THIS MORNING THE SUN got out of bed and smiled, instead of pouting and hiding its face in blankets of clouds. Koda the Forest Kitten is glorying in the golden rays, as are chickadees and blue jays, pileated woodpeckers and gray squirrels. And me!
AND SO, when it has been raining for 40 days and 40 nights (for Christmas!) and it will not stop, you go out and make your rounds. And check on everything that needs to be checked on, and chase away the squirrels, and make sure the deer do not get too close to the cabin. Then you come in and
AS THE LINGERING FALL gradually eases into winter, Koda the Forest Kitten is at a bit of a loss. It grows dark by 5pm, not 9pm. So curfew has been moved up considerably. And the same cold that has frozen the river also freezes his nose. And his toes. And his tail. And his ears. And although he is an
ON THE CHURCH O THE ISLAND, it is a good Sunday morning, drenched in bird songs. It was the loons along the shore who awakened me, but I was late—far too late to see the sun edge over the horizon. The white-throats and song sparrows had long been lofting their morning arias. The crows were caterwauling, the red squirrels trilling
EVEN WITH A CAMERA, even if I’d been ready, I could not have caught it. Would not have been quick enough to begin to follow the black streak across the snow. It was simply too fast. Way too fast. Here’s the story. A pine limb had fallen in the yard during the last snow/ice storm. I decided it was time
AT THE OLD CABIN, Koda-the-Forest-Kitten, industrious and smart, has learned a new trick. Koda has long known how to get attention and tell us he wants OUT! Tearing up the laundry, scattering Mom’s desk papers onto the floor, knocking her latch-hook paraphernalia onto the floor, leaping onto and over every piece of furniture in the cabin. Just little hints that
TODAY AT THE CHURCH O THE PINES, as the temperature climbs, one of our infrequently seen congregation members makes a welcome appearance. The opossum has a hard time dealing with the harsh realities of a Minnesota winter—perhaps not unlike human beings who now endure a national climate in which kindness, decency, and honesty have been replaced by bitter winds of
IT IS SUNDAY AT the Church O The Pines. And the piney woods look like a snow globe and the chickadees and squirrels dash back and forth among the falling flakes, and eagles sit on their eggs in a tree-top—as persistent rumors of spring remain in the air. But in the old cabin a new game has been discovered by
WELL HE HAS done it. Koda-The-Forest-Kitten has accomplished the seeming impossible. He has made Mom (Kathy) absolutely dissolve in laughter. Tears streaming down her face, barely able to breathe. For 10 minutes. Maybe 12. Even 15? Just look at that innocent face. How did he do it? Kathy was reading her phone, checking emails. One came across the transom that
OUR ERSTWHILE WILD KITTEN Koda, who came to us out of the forest one freezing night last March, continues to delight, amaze and entertain us. Black as midnight, confident, curious, playful, he is, Kathy says, an ‘opportunist,’ which she says he learned by surviving in the woods. He is always alert for an opportunity and siezes it unapologetically. He loves